BFisher

Yep. Never underestimate the TSF in any transaction, especially when dealing online.

wrk101

That’s a good read that explains it well. Realize savvy fraudsters will always be a step ahead. I didn’t realize credit cards make much MORE on fraud sales than real ones. Talk about the wrong incentives!!

On eBay, best to stay in your lane. If you commonly sell items for $25 to $50, avoid selling something for $1000 as one scam will wipe out dozens of sales. On used bike parts, fraud is less prevalent, as fraudsters can’t turn a vintage Suntour dérailleur into quick cash.

Still I’ve gotten claims on item not delivered even though USPS shows delivery. Know the sales rules! Over $750 (last time I checked) you must have a signature. I had one where the person refused to sign. Ultimately I got the item back.

My basic rule in bikes I’ll sell locally for HALF my eBay price. Why? No packing, no buyer wins any dispute, no fees; it’s just A LOT easier! I always laugh when a local seller wants eBay price. I tell them, then sell on eBay. Or I just ignore them.

alexihnen 

To add data points from two recent sales...

One was a frameset at $1,600. I listed it in every known Facebook vintage bike group and marketplace - no takers. Sold in a few weeks on ebay. The seller paid $1,848.75, including shipping, and I received $1,400.37. The fees can be hard to swallow, but reinforces that ebay reaches a much larger pool of buyers.

Second was a set of old but not vintage pedals. Listed here at $65. Sold on ebay for $90. Seller paid $102.60 and I received $82.55.

To be honest, it's much easier to list on ebay since you don't need to "bump" items and then either annoy forum visitors, or stop bumping and let the listing slide into oblivion. That said, I make an effort to list things here at a substantial discount because this is a great resource and generous community, and I really don't like sending ebay money.

Schweinhund

Ebay, under Meg Whitman, went from a great place to a Profit at everyone's expense no matter if you have to steal it.

My first sale on ebay was in 1999. My last sale was last year after over 20 years of selling and 0 negative feedback. Ebay says that I had to be verified. They withheld the entire sales amount $52.00 and I'm out the shipping. They are still verifying me 16 months later.

repechage

top level math on the frameset, there must be sales tax in that spread also?

there needs to be a bringatrailer for classic and vintage bikes, heck maybe even mod bikes. "BAT" now has about a 100 listings per day.
They do charge a listing fee, so that quells some to motivated sellers.

chain_whipped

No longer true. I just had a lengthy phone conversation with an ebay representative (she too explained is a seller).

We used a current example and discussed the following:

Decade plus seller. 100% feedback. Volume based. Extra verifications done a few years ago, govt issued ID provided on file, bank accounts, etc.. This done for reasons to expedite payouts, non holding by the ebay company at their advantage and backend interest rev's. All complied and green lighted by the powers to be at ebay.

Sellers hub not available on the mobile app. however could still use phone and access the hub by google chrome. In the hub, used to be able to add shipper and tracking number. Funds released. So that's the picture from last years and had smooth sailing, per their requirements.

Now that the bike industry and market as a whole is rapidly flipping upside down, the used market of whole bikes by sellers is now worsened by ebay tactics.

I sell by listing 'pick up' only. In the description, I offer shipping, if prearranged and at buyers expense. There may be additional buyers expense if they just went the bike released to a local bike shop and they handle all of it. Though, I've never had that last part requested and I've done all the prep and packaging myself / no extra cost.

Former user of Bike Flights. Now too high (pun?)
Former user of Ship Bikes. Now out of biz for the bike services of shipping.

Currently use 3rd party Pirate Ship with excellent results and substantial rate savings over the carrier UPS, direct.

Using the ebay sellers hub (access by google chrome), would enter the UPS tracking number and all was done and funds released.

No more and unable to do such.

Ebay tells me my volume isn't enough over whatever timeline they deem. No schedule of sales dollar volume or units provided.

They would however immediately release funds if I 'used their' shipping services option for buyer. Meaning, I must use their shipper services 'option'. There's a price to that but they reward seller because of the higher final tally or sale/ .ie: sales dollar volume.

I'm declining for the following reasons:

All the ebay shipper / vendor options are currently sky high compared to Pirate Ship. This would deter the buyer at seeing the rates, and skip altogether buying the bike.

I don't want to pre break down bikes and prep and carton for shipping, provide pertinent details for shipping rates.

Ebay takes commission from the total sale amount. Basic example is a $525 bike (less shipping) nets $445 payout. Add $500 shipping (using a recent best rate / UPS ground / defined zip codes) total ebay collected from buyer (less state tax collection) would be $1,025. That commission rate collected is inclusive of shipping cost.

Anyways, the particular example using Pirate Ship is approx. $200. A UPS tracking number and UPS as actual carrier, unable to now enter this information in order to get prompt payouts.

Ebay has become another thorn to the already downward trend.

icemilkcoffee 

Not that I sell a lot on Ebay, but the few times I compared shipping rates between Ebay and Pirateship- they were the same discounted rate.
I do agree that they getting a % commission out of the total including shipping fee is ridiculous.

albrt 

To everybody who likes selling on ebay, I wish you nothing but the best.

But personally I'd rather donate all my bikes and parts to the local co-op than spend 5 minutes dealing with those clowns.

polymorphself 

Edit: Never-mind.

Kabuki12

I don't sell much on eBay , but when I have , the fees are more than I originally calculate. I am not sure how that happens but I sold a bike for $750 this year and they kept over $100 in fees . The buyer picked the item up as it was listed as pick up only. Because I don't sell very often (mostly buy) they have held my money for 45 days even though the buyer paid and left a positive feedback. I have been an eBay participant for a very long time and it seems as though it has become less friendly and more fee based as time goes on.

roadcrankr

eBay started doing that over ten years ago, because sellers sold items for ten bucks with two hundred dollar shipping.

I recently listed some vintage parts with very fair starting prices or buy-it-nows. Much less activity compared to back in the day.
And they raised fees for a typical $100 item from about 12% to 15%. Kinda goes against the supply & demand business model.
If a buyer chooses local pickup with me, I sometimes try to get them to simply pay with cash upon showing up. Then we mutually agree to void the eBay sale.

repechage

yes, that is telling.

rccardr 

Figure on a 15% cut to eBay depending on the size of the sale and whether you are taking advantage of any free listing specials (note that free listing does not apply to final sale fees). That’s not far from the lising fee + 10% + 3% that used to be charged for eBay plus PayPal. They’re still the world’s largest marketplace for all kinds of stuff and as long as what you’re selling weighs less than a pound, USPS Ground Advantage is cheap (and buyers are willing to pay modest shipping charges these days). At the end of the day, they’re in business to do business and stay in business so yeah, they get a piece of the action. If you think they charge too much, use someone else.

RB1-luvr

I've been selling grips I produce on eBay since 2010 and my sales have dropped considerably. So much so that I'm thinking of closing my business once I'm sold out of inventory. I've either saturated the market with my product, or people are steering clear of eBay. Maybe a little of both.

The fees seem a little high until I entertain the thought of developing/maintaining/paying for my own website.

chain_whipped

A longtime ebay buyer as well here, a seller just offered via the eBay limited time discount price on a frameset.

Seller is four state's away.

Seller is using the eBay shipper system.

UPS ground rate is $391.44.

Not interested.

rccardr 

Hard to believe that's actually what eBay wants to charge for the shipping. The actual amount is often very different than the 'estimated' amount done at time of posting.
If you want the frame, ask him to BIN at the discounted price with NO shipping and then send him a label from BikeFlights or PirateShip once it's packed up and you know the box weight and dimensions.

SirMike1983 

It's not you, it's that buyers are moving away from eBay. Over the past couple of years, eBay has been increasingly flooded with high volumes of new junk that is direct shipped from China (and often it's deceptively drop-shipped using a straw US address). It drives buyers away.

The old school eBay buyer was the person looking for something specific, usually a vintage item or hard-to-find item. If you couldn't find it new, or it was out of production, eBay was the place to go. Now, if you do that same search, chances are you'll be flooded with unrelated junk items direct from China. I was searching for some 1940s era Schwinn road bike brake calipers awhile back, and I was getting flooded with direct-from-China cheap-o brakes for e-bikes. I was looking for a needle in the haystack, but eBay was making the haystack bigger. I'm sure other buyers have hit the same thing and given up.

smd4

The eBay marketplace isn't the problem. It's the crappy search engine they use. I've got a standing search for "Bicycle Guide Magazine," Today, the top hits for that search are "The iOS12 iPad Guide Book," "Freestylin' Magazine," and about a billion various issues of "TV Guide." The search feature is virtually useless.

repechage

X has led the way, invest in programming? That is so pre pandemic.

iab

I had 2 ebay sales last year. One was a set of bars. I thought shipping aground $15, at least that was ebay told me when making the listing. Ebay then charged the buyer $35. I have no idea why. I had to send a $20 refund.

roadcrankr

Possibly it went international to Canada or further. When selling, I offer free domestic shipping. The buyer pays the added int'l portion.
I try my best to obtain a decent estimate, then build that into my pricing. With carriers constantly raising prices, it makes it somewhat problematic.
eBay's discounted shipping seems to work fairly well. For larger items, it helps to use the smallest box possible to avoid oversize charges.

RCMoeur 

Recently, I've been seeing grips shipped direct from China for as low as $1.43 per pair, with free shipping. It's hard to compete against that.

I haven't had too many problems as a seller on eBay - nearly all the buyers have been great, especially when it's a local sale. But I don't do a lot of eBay selling these days due to the depressed market in nearly everything bicycle-related except for old-school BMX. That being said, the sales I've made on BMX parts for the co-op recently brought in some decent money (well over $100 for 4 items).

eBay is notorious for "suggesting" packaging that absolutely won't fit the item, even after you enter dimensions and weight. I had to take down a listing when I clearly specified the shipping type and package size, but when the listing went live it showed the suggested (and completely wrong) shipping method as the default. When I complained to eBay, they said it was an "unfortunate bug" in the software and said they would eventually fix it. I will say that on recent sales eBay still initially suggests wildly inappropriate shipping (such as a flat rate envelope for a 7-speed freewheel), but once I go through the effort to override it it stays overridden.

As a business shipper, I agree that shipping is getting less and less affordable across the board, and eBay at least offers some discount.

About 4 years ago, I sold a full-up first generation Cannondale mountain bike in excellent condition in an eBay auction for a nonprofit. I could have parted it out and made more (XC friction group, rollercam brakes, etc.) but I thought it was "better" to keep the old bike intact. It only sold for $225, with $138 shipping (back then), but I got a nice note from the buyer thanking me for keeping the bike intact so he could enjoy it.

RB1-luvr

ya competing with the Chinese is impossible. My shipping alone is 5x their total asking price.